It is always fascinating to compare a conductor’s views on a work
or composer from one period in their career to another, and Sir Simon Rattle’s
association with Stravinsky has been a very long term affair. Many will
know his EMI box set (see review),
which is a very fine collection by any standards. This new recording of
The Rite of Spring with the Berlin Philharmonic has created controversy
in some quarters, but there seem to be more similarities than differences
here with the Birmingham recording and the only thing I found myself wondering
is why it would displease anyone.

There is an intensity and verve in the Birmingham recording which has gained
many admirers, and there is something of a trade-off between this and the
greater refinement of the Berlin playing. Rattle’s direction is never
less than gripping however, and even with his trademark measured tempi the
tension and excitement builds remarkably effectively. The animal and bird
sounds of the first part Introduction encroach onto Messiaen territory
here, such is the distinctness of each utterance. The scenic character of
each section passes by your imagination with startling definition, and the
clarity of the recording means you hear little details missed in other versions.
The brass is particularly potent, getting your teeth rattling at the opening
of the Jeu des cités rivales, and though this is a performance
full of virtuoso high jinx we’re never pushed beyond the intention
of the work and the roughness and brutality expressed in detail through
Stravinsky’s score.

I always like to go back to the source with this kind of thing, and Stravinsky’s
own tremendous recording of The Rite of Spring can be had in the
must-have Sony big box set (see review).
I always forget how intense this recording is, with a somewhat artificial
but truly gritty orchestral sound and the real sense that you are up amongst
the sweat and bruises of the dancers. Rattle’s is a rich experience,
and there is no escaping the benefit of modern technology when it comes
to the recorded sound, but bouncing between the two makes you realise quite
how ‘inside’ the music Stravinsky brings us. Rattle’s
is fabulous and impassioned, but remains a landscape of the mind as much
as a physical assault on the senses. Just compare the Glorification de
l’élue and the final Danse sacrale in the second
part of the work. Where Rattle shakes a powerful fist, Stravinsky somehow
manages to rip the very air in front of our faces.

I raved about Andrew Litton’s BIS recording of Le Sacre du printemps
not so long ago (see review),
so I can’t get away without comparing these two. I have to admit Rattle
gets more character into the burgeoning fauna of the Introduction,
but after that it’s more a question of recording perspective. Tempi
are roughly the same in the Augurs of Spring and elsewhere, but the
BIS engineers place the orchestra a little further away from us, preferring
to ensure that all of Stravinsky’s details are present but not quite
so ‘in your face’ the whole time. Both are very exciting and
involving, but in the end the EMI version is the more wearing. With the
BIS disc the low drum thwacks are the more telling, startling even, by emerging
from an orchestra held at a little more than arms length, and when the climaxes
arrive the teeth are clenched to the point of crumbling Tom & Jerry
style. Rattle is riveting, but the full orchestral sound can be a bit overwhelming
on top of all of the other overwhelming stuff. There are other moments where
I distinctly prefer Litton, for instance in the huge orchestral ‘gong
strokes’ about 30 seconds into the Introduction of the second
part. Rattle delays these a touch and then makes them into more of a dynamic
arch - I’m tempted to use the word ‘rainbow’, where Litton
allows the initial ‘whoom’ to fade with chilling magic. Litton
finds and expresses the unearthly mystery in these points, where Rattle
is more Indiana Jones film-score.Where the EMI disc does win is in
having access points to each of the titled sections, whereas BIS just has
the first and second parts in two big chunks.

Rattle’s Symphony of Wind Instruments hasn’t changed
much over the years, the timings between the Birmingham recording and this
Berlin one differing by all of 2 seconds. Rattle’s account was never
really my favourite but this later recording is a winner in terms of intonation
and instrumental colour, and has sold itself well to my sentimental streak.
Stravinsky’s own recording is alas in historic mono sound and not
performed to what you would consider superlative standards, but at 9:10
the composer’s timing is closer to that of Boulez in his Deutsche
Grammophon version (see review).
I prefer the music to have a bit more zip earlier on, though Rattle does
have nice tenderness and restraint in the chorales and gentler central passages,
and the low instruments are nicely captured in the closing minutes.

I agree with John
Quinn about the quality of performance and recording in Apollon musagète
over the Birmingham version, but this is a piece which I feel a bit more
uncomfortable in this recording. This is Stravinsky in neo-classical mode,
and while the music deserves expressive playing I can’t help hearing
a certain amount of self-indulgent wallowing in this performance - it’s
just too lush and rich for my taste. If you prefer a smaller scale Apollo
then Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists are hard to beat (see review),
but that’s something of a chalk and cheese comparison. Robert Craft
and the London Symphony Orchestra on Naxos
would be a more realistic litmus test of how this can be played without
quite so much red plush on the chocolate box. If you want your Apollo
to sound more like Richard Strauss then Rattle will be the one for you.
His performance is good and healthily lively in the faster movements, but
the opening Naissance d’Apollon and little details such as
the overdone string vibrato in the Variation de Terpsichore tend
to put me off.